Conceptual Analysis of 1UPT in Civ5

I haven't bought Civ V yet because after the way I was burned with Call to Power 2 - a game I just played a few times before deciding I couldn't stand some of the changes - I'm reluctant to buy a game so many people are expressing misgivings about. So I can't really say anything about how well or badly the 1UPT system works in actual practice. But I can look at the conceptual issues involved.

One of the great strategic virtues in warfare is concentration of force - as General Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Confederate States of America put it, "get there firstest with the mostest." Since this virtue is important on both strategic and tactical scales, any game that wants its military model to make sense has to have a reasonable way to represent it.

Unit Table

Apolyton Civilization Site releases the Civilization V sortable unit table. It can be used for easy reference in and outside Civilization V. The heads of every column can be clicked to sort it alphabetical. More new Civilization V tables are being worked on.
Unfortunately the table isn't working in Google Chrome yet.
Your feedback to improve the table is welcome!
Discuss the table in our forums.

What DirectX 11 is good for: Civilization 5 Tech Interview at PC Games Hardware

Developer Dan Baker explained us how DirectX 11 enhances not only the visual appeal of the new strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization 5 but how its direct compute abilities contribute to the game's performance. Also he explains, how Civ 5 is a little further developed than PCs are.

DirectX 11 offers great performance increases, if developers know how to use the new APIs right. Firaxis, the developing team behind Sid Meier's Civilization 5 spent plenty of time finding out how to really improve gaming experience with tesselation and direct compute 5 in store. In an interview, Dan Baker - Firaxis Games' Graphis Lead - told us in detail, what they did with DirectX 11.

After the demo had finished we talked with Peter, and Tiffany Nagano, who assisted him during the demo, about Civ 5 (and a bit about Civilization Network, which is being produced by Tiffany). Apart from telling us very enthusiastically about Civilization V, Pete also listened to our questions, and promised us to answer questions from the community, if we would collect these and send them his way. We then collected all these questions and sent them his way. Today we got the answers, which you can read below.

quill18's "Let's Play Civ 5" Video Playthrough

quill18 has a gaming channel on YouTube where he has now placed the first Civilization V Video Walkthrough, and he shared it with us on our forums. Below you can watch the first part of this lengthy video. A great watch if you're still deciding if you want to buy the game or not. quill18 is a very enthusiastic talker who likes it to pull us into the game with his comments on the game. If you'd like to view the other parts of this playthrough you'd better visit his YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Introduction into the Civilization5 Technology Tree

I created an overview of the initial parts of the technology tree to provide some orientation. Unlike in Civ4 there is only one starting technology, Agriculture, meaning every civ starts with it and only it, allowing workers to construct farms.

The initial phase of the game sees a mix of technologies that allow your workers to improve your land accordingly and military ones for defense and/or offense. I will present those two branches separately. It is your choice when you plan on needing which combat units. Unless you have something good to do with those units, go for the non-military technologies first.

MrGameTheory's breakdown of the Civ5 PDF manual.. :)

I got a little bored so I decided to read the entire Civ 5 PDF manual and break down most of the information of serious value. In some areas I simply copied and pasted very important parts of the Civ Manual that people should keep in mind for now

GameSpot posts Civ V Video Walkthrough

GameSpot has posted a Hi-res video walkthrough of Civ5 on their website that runs for more then 13 minutes. (A HD version is available for subscribers). View the GameSpot Civ5 Video Walkthrough by clicking Read More, or view the Hi-res version of the video in our forums

There are 18 civilizations in
Civ5 vanilla and 4 additional
as downloadable content, each with its
own leader and unique unit. In addition, every leader has a semi-unique
"personality", consisting of traits that determine their in-game
behavior.

For example, Elizabeth of the English,
a historical naval power,
emphasizes a pursuit of naval dominance and the choices she makes
reflects this desire. However, in order to prevent leaders from
becoming too-predictable, these traits have the potential to be changed
slightly and weighted differently before a new game begins, keeping
diplomacy fresh.

Contents

The Civ 5 AI isn't brilliant, but
it's smart enough to tear you apart if you play badly. A victorious
player plans both strategy -- the long term goals and methods of a war
-- and tactics -- the methods used to achieve these goals. The strategy
and tactics used in the different Eras are discussed below.

Contents

Social Policies are special powers
you unlock with Culture
points. Social Policies are available in
ten trees. Most Policies require prerequisite selections to access
higher-tier abilities. Some Social Policy trees are locked until
certain Eras begin, which means that a player interested in opening up
some of the most powerful special abilities must make Research a
priority.